The Hand of Destiny
by Herald of Destiny
Summary: A tale of a coincidental yet fateful meeting between two souls from different realms. Everything seems perfect, the call of destiny… but is it? Or are there underlying secrets lurking that will change their lives forever?


Disclaimer: Ragnarok Online is owned by Gravity, including its job classes, job skills, places, etc. However, the characters in the ensuing story and the story itself are mine.

Author's Notes: Feel free to review. Constructive criticism good, flame bad. Okay?

The Hand of Destiny: A Fated Meeting

by Destiny (a.k.a. Jenn)

"No, no get away!!!" the sorceress screamed in terror, her long, golden mane coming down from it's golden clips in disarray as she ran for her life from the panting, grunting goat-like being hot in her pursuit. "Quagmire!" she chanted, aiming the spell on the fast-diminishing gap between her and her pursuer, hoping to at least get back some leverage.

For a while, it seems as if her quickly-cast spell had worked, slowing down her attacker and his mob of small horned beings. However, in the blink of an eye, the huge monster disappeared from sight, reappearing suddenly right in front of her, his crescent-shaped scythe gleaming in anticipation of the promise of fresh blood.

The terrified sorceress made to run to the opposite direction, totally blinded by fear, but her progress was hindered as she suddenly felt the impact of something hard and unyielding against her. She almost fell to the floor with the force of the collision, but strong arms grabbed her and hoisted her with a certainty back to her feet. The sorceress was shaking almost too badly to support her own weight. With a resigned courage, she slowly raised her eyes to look into the face of what she presumed was one of the Goat Monster's many minions.

She thought she was seeing a mirage. The head and face were almost totally covered with a tough steel-helmet, but the eyes were undeniable in their kindness and gentleness, the compassion in the gaze mixed with the determination in its depths. A deep, blue pool... she felt she was drowning...

He thought he was seeing a mirage. He had come to hunt for the famed Goat Monster that would test his skills and would grant him the rarest of treasures upon its defeat. But the thing... the siren... that literally fell into his arms... was a sight to behold. Long, golden hair that caught even the dimmest highlights in the lost sanctuary of Glast Heim, shimmering down in silky waves and almost carpeting the floor. A lovely, ethereal face framed by the golden mane, tearful sky-blue eyes looking up at him and melting his heart. That such a lovely maiden he shall find on this dangerous quest! Looking into those soft, almost luminescent blue orbs... he felt he was drowning...

"Lo-look out!" The sorceress cried as the Goat Monster, who it seemed had been watching their exchange and had grown tired of the wait, grunted and directed a ground-shaking command at the exact spot where they are standing.

"Lord of Vermillion!" The monster shouted, his voice savage and guttural, his single eye gleaming with an almost physical spite. His little minions danced around their master giddily as the ground and adjacent area around the knight and sorceress shook and vibrated, sending wide lightning shocks all over the expanse.

The knight quickly recovered from his initial surprise and threw his body over the sorceress as he dropped them to the ground, shielding her from most of the damage.

"A-are you okay?" the sorceress asked, her voice faltering with fright.

"I'm fine, don't worry," the knight tried to keep his voice steady and reassuring, but he winced at the pain of the shock he had received. Luckily, his hunch had been right. "I'm wearing my favorite armor today," he said, smiling and winking at the worried sorceress, "it reduces that thing's spell damage a lot, and some of the similar elemental damages totally miss."

He helped her back to her feet and stood in front of her in a protective stance, one arm out to defend her from impending attacks. "Just stay back, let me handle this."

"No, I can help!" The sorceress restrained from his attempt to push her back and firmly stood by his side. She had been doing well enough alone fending off fast-moving bald-headed clothes-wearing skeletons and invisible whatnots wearing seemingly too-big armors, but when the goat thing had suddenly appeared and gotten too close...

She needed time, space, and utmost concentration to fight, but the monster suddenly appearing right next to her just as she finished off a little devil-thing with a pitchfork didn't offer that. Now that she had the knight tanking, however...

Looking into her determined eyes, the knight knew that however much he desired not to let this angel get hurt, she was staunch in her decision and confident in her skill. "Just hit from behind me okay?"

The sorceress nodded and closed her eyes, focusing mentally on the space where the powerful monster stood gloating. The runes symbolizing her ancient magic appeared, circling slowly, drawing the curse of cold and water on the ground, a sign of the frigid hurricane to come.

The knight, satisfied with the knowledge that the sorceress stood a good, safe distance away, unsheathed his sword and finished off the squeaking minions with several agile yet strong slashes.

The Goat Monster stood and laughed his guttural laugh, seemingly unfazed that he now stood alone in a match against sorceress and knight. "Lord of..!!"

"Storm Gust!!!" The magic runes lit up and vanished, replaced by the sudden blizzard of hail and snow that now rained inside the church. The goat monster staggered back in surprise as he was pelted by the huge gusts from all sides.

"Now, run!" The knight, in a flash, had relinquished his position in front of the monster and taken the hand of the sorceress, who had been in deep concentration in preparation for casting another spell.

"Why, we're winning!" the sorceress protested, yet she willingly ran beside the knight, secretly grateful to get away from that single, unnerving eye.

"That's Baphomet," the knight said, his voice coming out inbetween pants for breath, as the two of them sank down on the moss-covered stone path outside of the tower. "We can't take him out with just the two of us, that has been the mistake of too many parties that tried and failed to return."

"Including mine..." he thought to himself, feeling the sorrow and grief well up as he remembered how he and his boisterous mates had camped all day waiting for the famed Goat Monster to spawn... and how easily it had decimated all of them...

"Anyway, we'd be safe here, he is rumored never to come out of the tower." he continued, shaking off the painful memory. "So what's your name, and what are you doing alone here?"

"Destiny," the sorceress answered, "I was hunting for the Elunium, we need it for..." her voice trailed off as she remembered just what her kingdom needed it for. For war. Bitter, unending war. How she hated it! But she had always been upright and had always tried to prove herself a good role model... as the only heir of her father and mother, the King and Queen of Luina. "My aide was supposed to fetch me many an hour ago, before that monster was supposed to come out."

"So, what about you?"

"Me?" The knight weighed his answer carefully, removing his helmet and shaking his unruly, boyish brown locks out of their confines. "We wanted to train to be stronger..."

"For war..." he finished silently to himself. He never remembered how he got himself into the battlefield, only that his parents, the King and Queen of the Valkyrie realms, had always expected all their sons to join and lead the kingdom's battle forces.

"I'm Darien," he said, extending his hand which the sorceress quickly took into her own.

"Thank you for saving my life..." the princess almost-murmured, gazing intensely at Darien's chiseled, well-defined features.

Darien felt himself drown in her scrutinizing gaze, his eyes drinking in the features of the lovely angel before him, trying to memorize the ivory skin, the golden hair, the long lashes that framed those soulful, sky-blue eyes...

"Desssss!" a cute, high-pitched voice interrupted Darien's temporary reverie. Startled out of his blissful stupor, he turned around to face the owner of the voice. Rushing up to them, breathless, was an apprentice acolyte. Up close, Darien could see that she was but a child, maybe 7 or so, with wavy pink hair tied up in pigtails, the curly ringlets framing cheeks that blushed red with exertion as she half-ran, half-skipped to where he and Destiny rested.

"Arianne, what are you doing here?! Master Zemus instructed you to always remain with your Magnificatte team at all times! Leaving the party, let alone venturing out alone here... why the Abyssmal...!" Destiny knew she was babbling a bit and tried innocuously to regain her composure as she suddenly remembered the handsome knight she was with, who was now looking at her with a bemused smile. "Ohmygod, he's sooo cute... are those dimples on his cheeks...?!" Catching herself and giving herself a mental pinch to snap out of her daydream, she pulled the child acolyte close and ruffled her hair affectionately.

"Anyway, I'm just glad you're safe," she said, her gaze again wandering to the knight's huge breastplate, which, though hard and tempered, still could not disguise the strong build underneath.

Darien tried to choke back a laugh as he pretended not to see Destiny give him the once-over. Hell, he knew he couldn't keep his eyes off her! But of course, countless hours of scoping out the maiden training grounds during his years at knight academy had honed his skills in pretending to look where he wasn't actually looking.

"Desss, who's your boyfriend?" the little acolyte asked sweetly in a sing-song voice.

"Wha- oh, Arianne, meet Darien," Destiny quickly broke her gaze away from Darien's physique and attempted a hurried introduction, but then it suddenly dawned on her lag-struck mind what Arianne had said. "He's NOT my boyfriend!"

"Well, anyway, I came to fetch you Dessy," Arianne said blithely, executing a perfect escape from Destiny's wrath. She giggled to herself. The princess was adored by the entire populace of Luina, well-known and respected for her great wisdom and skill with the ancient magic as well as her gracefulness and seemingly-perfect poise at all times. Many princes from faraway lands had come to seek her hand with promises of everlasting and undying love as well as earthly riches none the likes of Luina had ever seen, but all had left Luina with their tails between their legs. It seemed that the princess was just too precocious and astute for them to handle! Little did they know what her adopted sister did- that the princess has her funny and blonde moments as well, and this was definitely one of them. Why, right now her sister was almost openly ogling the guy!

"Right, the court must be getting worried by now," Destiny said, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice. From the looks of Darien's armor, it was clear that he wasn't a citizen of Luina, and she knew from her Geography classes that the next nearest kingdom to Luina, the Valkyrie, was separated from theirs by thick forests inhabited by oversized worms and other insects. Expeditions sent out and manned by the best men from both kingdoms almost always failed to return, and those that did came back battle-worn and almost decimated in numbers.

"I- I suppose this is goodbye then," she said quietly, casting a wistful glance over her shoulder as she walked over to Arianne, who was busy rummaging around in her knapsack and finally came up with a sapphire gemstone in her hand.

"Warp Portal!"

"Let's go Dessy!" Arianne said, grabbing Destiny's hand and heading towards the pulsing pillar of energy that resembled a silver, tubular waterfall of pure light.

Darien balked at the sight of the portal, feeling himself torn between the feeling of relief that Destiny will be safe in her kingdom, and the other thought that was silently but insistently tugging at his heart – _Will I see her again...?_

Destiny was already heading towards the portal where Arianne was waiting patiently for her to enter first, for the dimensional wrinkle caused by portal disappears as soon as the conjurer steps into it.

"W-wait!" Feeling his chance start to slip from his fingers, Darien made a quick decision, something he has not done so for some time now- to act impulsively from his emotion's dictates instead of his mind's. His heart was already thumping out a victory even as his mind screamed _what the hell are you doing_?! He tried to silence the voice of conscience, knowing he was needed back at the kingdom, knowing he held the responsibility to inform his comrades' family about their passing, knowing it was futile as his heart soared just thinking about the angel before his eyes...

Destiny turned, almost too fast, her sapphire eyes expressing a mixture of emotions- hope, joy, fear...

_Fear of hoping..._

"P-please, I..." Darien was at a loss, he himself not knowing what it is he wanted. Knowing he was running out of time as the portal was gradually but surely shrinking by the second, he blurted out the first words that came to his mouth.

"Stay with me."

_Stay with him. _Destiny breathed to herself, her head already swimming with images of them together, her heart pounding so hard she could feel the blood rush to her face and tinge her cheeks a becoming pink hue. It was illogical, impossible! A man she just met, from another kingdom... but how her heart fluttered so when she imagined a future with him... _Ohmygod a future..! What am I thinking..._

Arianne sighed, looking at the couple who looked ready to jump into each other's arms. She hated to be the bearer of bad news, and she definitely wasn't about to be the antagonist in this scene! She smiled fondly at Destiny, who had treated her as nothing less than a real sister from the day she was adopted into the royal family. She knew what she was about to do was foolish and a big risk, hell she didn't even know the man! But she sensed no evil in him, no malicious intent, only a pure and earnest yearning that almost frightened her with its intensity_... a yearning for her sister..._ Acting quickly before reason took over and she changed her mind, Arianne reached into her bag again and withdrew a purple fluttering object, placing it delicately into her sister's hands.

Destiny looked down at her sister's gift. An _enchanted butterfly_, it's delicate wings beating softly against her palms, shedding golden stardust that filtered to the floor and shimmered as it caught the rays of the sun. She looked at Arianne with wide eyes, unbelieving, grateful...

"Use that when you're ready to go. I'll cover for you, but not too late okay?" Arianne smiled and winked at her speechless sister before hopping gracefully into the portal.

"S-so..." Darien cleared his throat and broke the silence awkwardly, wondering what the hell now.

Destiny pivoted and headed towards him, her mind still dazed from the sudden turn of events. She gave Darien a lopsided grin.

"So?"


End file.
